ComplexLand Brands to Watch: Meet The NYC-Based Streetwear Label Brigade
Written by SOURCE on May 23, 2022
As a designer, Maldonado aspires to meet the production quality of brands like Supreme and Ralph Lauren. Like those labels, he hopes to one day work with technical fabric labels like Pertex or luxury fabric suppliers like Loro Piana on garments. Maldonado is also not afraid to praise other young designers like Steven Mena, who’s behind the popular and rising Los Angeles label Menace.
“I’ve honestly been inspired by Steven from Menace because he puts together collections where every piece is a showstopper but they somehow work all together,” says Maldonado, who hints that Brigade’s upcoming Fall/Winter collection will unveil the brand’s own Gore-Tex-esque fabric. “For Fall/Winter, I’m going to try to test this idea of making every garment a piece that makes you say ‘Oh shit!’ Because usually the way I design, there’s always one showstopper and everything else complements it.”
While Brigade is set to be stocked at Concepts this summer and is currently stocked alongside Off-White, Louis Vuitton, and Rick Owens at R3bel in Richmond, Virginia, his goal is to spread his distribution to at least 10 stores by next year. He laughs at the thought of pulling in an investor and believes he will be able to make it in the business while remaining strictly independent.
“My goal forward is that we want to stay small forever, internally, depending on what’s needed. You never want to have an unnecessary amount of like 200 people for no reason,” says Maldonado, who adds that Brigade is a small team run by himself, his wife, and several of his closest friends.”I would like to just be, like, lead design and creative direction. Where I’m pointing the ship in what direction it should sail while also designing a lot of dope shit. Although my main goal is to get better as a designer, I would also love to have a team of designers with me who have their own perspectives.”
When speaking about the success of his label, Maldonado doesn’t dwell much on how viral SoundCloud rappers like Krimelife Ca$$ or Lil Xelly wore the brand’s earliest pieces in their music videos and seems to care little about celebrity cosigns the brand has received over the years. And aside from collaborating with Hidden.NY on accessories and Zippo on a lighter, he’s turned down offers to collaborate with larger brands, simply because it didn’t feel authentic to Brigade.
Despite the love he’s received over the years, Maldonado says he still struggles to see himself as “a designer with a capital ‘D’” even though fans of the brand constantly ask him to drop certain cut and sew pieces he released years ago.
But one thing Maldonado is comfortable with talking about is the community Brigade created. He enjoys when fans of the brand become friends after meeting at certain events or getting to know each other in its own online forum. That sense of community Brigade built was alive and well and it’s most recent pop-up in the Lower East Side this year, where many shoppers stuck around on a cool spring day to just chill and relax with old and new fans of the brand.
“Anyone could come in, people were laughing, vibing with people, and smoking together. From my perspective, it felt like anybody could pull up and everyone would be like, ‘Yo, what’s good,” remembers Maldonado. “Whereas at other pop-ups, I feel like people just want to be really cool. Yeah you might look cool, but it’s not a vibe to be sitting in the corner and not talking to anybody. I think that’s a part of the secret sauce of how we made Brigade work. We make people feel welcome and we’re not judging anybody or trying to be too cool for ourselves.”
